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Santa Maria (RhB) -


warbonnetuk
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Had another work session on the layout with the assistance of fellow RMWeb'er Roundhouse. After a couple of point polarity issues were ironed out the first circuit around the layout was completed by 414 with the heritage train, followed by a guest from the Harz mountains

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now the main electrics are done the next job has been the one I've been dreading, namely working out the catenary. Having been trying to digest the Sommerfedt manual on and off for the last year along with studying various RhB stations on Google Maps  I've come up with the catenary scheme as shown on the attached PDF.   Main concerns have been getting the anchor points and tensioner points in the right places so if anyone has got comments / suggestion I'd welcome any input before I start drilling holes and soldering gantry cross members

 

Dan

Santa Maria RhB Catenary diagram.pdf

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tonight I have been mostly.......weathering track.

 

Using AK Interactive's "Trainspotting" book as a rough guide the track was airbrushed with some Lifecolour Warm Wood Base - a sort of reddy-brown. Next highlights and low lights were airbrushed on using Railmatch Track Colour and a LifeColour light grey / brown wood shade. The rails were hand painted with AK Dark Rust Deposits thinned out a little to soften the colour. Last touch was to apply AK Wash for Wood over all sleepers to soften the overall effect and to bring out the moulded grain a bit. To add will be some grease / oil deposits around the point tiebar area

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So 5 weeks to D-day and panic hasn't quite set in. This week's efforts have been around getting the various ground levels sorted around the station and yard area and also progressing the road bridge scenic break and associated earthworks

 

For the road bridge I've used the one at southern end of Zernez station as a basis with the original stone overplayed with concrete supports. So far the lining has been constructed from Wills embossed plasticard braces with MDF offcuts and Evergreen angle. The outside facia will be Slaters blockwork sheet. Girders come from some leftover Rix Products overpass kits.

 

Around the station the various levels were created with different thicknesses of cork sheet covered with PVA soaked newspaper strips a a la Gordon Gravett. The Faller station building will sit in the base with Evergreen section embossed to represent curbing

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Another working party with Ian (Roundhouse) resulted in new platform faces being installed (thanks Ian) and the underpinnings of the road bridge scenic break being completed (see pic). Hopefully I can find some time today to give the station base and road bridge components a coat of Tamiya XF-19 as a grey undercoat so I can start detail painting tonight

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A little bit more progress today inbetween client work.

 

The retaining walls for the overbridge were repainted. The stone sectional were highlighted by dry brushing with a light grey. The small retaining wall was used as a test piece to play with adding various dark grey and brown shades to break up the monotony. Once dried overnight it will get a dark grime over wash to tone everything down a bit

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After everything dried overnight this morning I gave the wall sections a coat of Tamiya Flat clean to seal in the work already done. Once dried the walls got a wash of Flory Models Dark Dirt clay wash. Once dried (about 30mins) the excess was wiped off using damp cotton buds and, for the concrete blockwork, a damp kitchen towel. On the block work I made sure to work straight downwards from top to bottom to introduce a bit more streaking. Now to do the other bits of wall.....

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Some more progress over the weekend even with a list of jobs from Mrs S and a minor emergency of a leaking shower tray.

 

The main achievement was fixing in the road bridge retaining wall and then shaping and gluing the foam board for the earthworks. As a prelude to this the back scenes got a couple of coats of 'sky blue'. The photographic back scene that I bought for the project was inspected but was unsuitable so I'm now considering the Vollmer alpine one as a alternative.

 

In the station area the stone slab surround for the station base was glued in and decks cut from mounting card for the platform bases. Once sealed they'll get a covering of scenic material to simulate gravel.

 

I did get a bit of quiet time on Saturday to watch a bit of cricket on the telly so a couple of flat cars got log loads courtesy of last years budlia trimmings. Again, compared to the photos I could find they are a little large compared with a 'typical' load but they do for the short term

 

 

 

 

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Since my last update I've been pushing on with scenics. The entire layout now has a base coat of Matt brown emulsion paint and to tonight one end started to get some vegetation. For the embankments I wanted a sparcer look so the 6mm static grass went down directly on the ground cover. For the flat areas various grades of Woodland Scenics cover went down first before the static grass was applied over the top

 

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So a quick update on last night's foliage planting. My normal adhesive for static grass is either Woodland Scenics or Scenic Express but after seeing a couple of videos extolling its virtues I got some Peco  / WWS Basing glue to give it a go. Anyway last nights activities saw me use it for the first time in the bottom right corner section in the above pic. It seemed to glue ok but seems quite shiny compared to the Woodland Scenics used elsewhere. Upon inspection this morning the glue has dried but where the glass covering is (deliberately) thin near the track there is a glossy sheen. Its can be rectified by the Peco is now put to one side pending further testing on some scrap material

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So......more progress.

 

The glossing problem was solved but by vacuuming up the excess long fibres and adding a thick ground cover of 2mm fibres before reapplying the longer ones provided sufficient cover.

 

The chinchilla dust used as gravel has proved somewhat problematic to get to stick. The experiment with Mod Podge was a failure with it not sticking anything so it was back to Woodland Scenics scenic cement.

 

I've also been able to push on with the overhead gantries with uprights fitted.

 

 

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I used the heavier gauge Sommerfeldt, just for robustness on an exhibition layout, and painted it grey/green to minimise the visual impact. You could use the finer Sommerfeldt but it needs proper tensioning or it flexes a lot as trains pass. That just makes the joints a bit more of a challenge. With the heavier wire I just curled the ends so they clipped in across baseboard joints. 

 

Didn’t look too bad

https://flic.kr/p/67X9Vx

 

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I used the heavier gauge Sommerfeldt, just for robustness on an exhibition layout, and painted it grey/green to minimise the visual impact. You could use the finer Sommerfeldt but it needs proper tensioning or it flexes a lot as trains pass. That just makes the joints a bit more of a challenge. With the heavier wire I just curled the ends so they clipped in across baseboard joints. 

 

Didn’t look too bad

2009-03 Rhatia Romsey 024

 

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It’ll be fine and look better than the thicker ones  :)  like I said it’s just going to need a little tension and you can do that with proper tension wires on end masts, even dropping through the baseboard to a tension spring underneath if you find a particular problem floppy bit. One thing I would recommend, if I haven’t already somewhere, is the CMX track cleaner with its bogies swapped for Bemo. If you want to try it out I can try to remember it next weekend as it should be in the Harz box 

 

01674F1F-85F6-4C7B-A4C3-1BEA1449F058.jpeg.64d64e4eba118fddc198ebf2d2fb48e9.jpeg

 

I seem to remember filing out a bit here to clear the flanges with the narrower wheelsets. 

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8 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

It’ll be fine and look better than the thicker ones  :)  like I said it’s just going to need a little tension and you can do that with proper tension wires on end masts, even dropping through the baseboard to a tension spring underneath if you find a particular problem floppy bit. One thing I would recommend, if I haven’t already somewhere, is the CMX track cleaner with its bogies swapped for Bemo. If you want to try it out I can try to remember it next weekend as it should be in the Harz box 

 

01674F1F-85F6-4C7B-A4C3-1BEA1449F058.jpeg.64d64e4eba118fddc198ebf2d2fb48e9.jpeg

 

I seem to remember filing out a bit here to clear the flanges with the narrower wheelsets. 

7A6182D8-0247-48E7-A275-1F0590360ED3.jpeg.6e0aea0e436922a7c409d83ee4e78818.jpeg

Thanks. If u can bring it along I'll give if a go

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15 hours ago, warbonnetuk said:

Hi Jim. No, wires are going in but at the moment it's a bit touch and go as to whether they will be in for the first show next weekend.

 

Watch this space......

 

Where is it appearing?

 

Jon

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